Psalms 44:2-3
2 You, by your power, ▼▼ Heb “you, your hand.”
defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ▼ you crushed ▼
▼ The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).
the people living there ▼▼ Or “peoples.”
and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ▼▼ Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.
3 For they did not conquer ▼
▼ Or “take possession of.”
the land by their swords, and they did not prevail by their strength, ▼
▼ Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.
but rather by your power, ▼ strength ▼
▼ Heb “your arm.”
and good favor, ▼ for you were partial to ▼
▼ Or “favorable toward.”
them.
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